"What do you suppose is up?" Jack asked as soon as he had read it.
"Curiosity killed a cat, you know."
The last remark came from a girl with bobbed hair and a slightly turned up nose, who had read the message over Jack's shoulder. Her name was Sue Stebbins and her father, Jeb Stebbins, was manager of the large ranch which was owned by a Mr. Leeds who lived in the East. Sue, who was something of a tomboy when it came to out-of-doors sports, ruled all hands, including her father, with, as the latter often declared, a rod of iron. But her rule was a generous one and she was a general favorite with all the hands from the manager down to the Chinese cook.
"If that was so you'd have been dead long ago," Jack retorted. "You've only got one life, you know, and a cat has nine."
"But I'm not curious," Sue pouted.
"Oh, no, not a bit," Jack jeered.
"Well, anyhow, it gives you a few days more before you have to go back to that horrid old college," she smiled.
"Who said it was horrid?" Jack demanded.
"I did. Anything that takes you two away from the ranch is horrid, so there."
"I reckon that settles it," Bob broke in laughingly. "But, honestly, Sue, we hate to go worse than you can possibly hate to have us."